San Francisco vindicator., 1887-08-13
CONVENIENT HOMES.
Good and Airy Closets the Most Imuor. .
tant Convenience About q House.

-'ouoO . " Aoo 90 inucH importance a0
its convenience. Convenience is of all
things what is desired in house of
any size Without it the housekeep-
ing is uphill work, even for the most
energetic of housewives. For woman
who does her own housework large
house is great care even with all the
modern conveniences, but without
them, to take care of such house is
the most discouraging kind of work
any one can do. A large, roomy
house, well furnished, may be very
pleasant for visitors to contemplate,
or enjoyable to the rest of the family,
but If 1t is not convenient, all its pretty
furnishings and roominess goes for
nothing to the housewife, who kept
continually at work to keep it in order,
can have no time to enjoy its luxuri-
ance of space. Unless there is a largo
family, the working housekeeper
much prefers small house, and if it
has not every convenience it is not as
difficult to keep in order as
large one, and certainly to most peo-
pie is cosier and more homelike. There
is always SO much to be done in
large house, that the housewife can
seldom conscientiously feel that she is
really all through, no matter how hard
she may work. There are usually some
rooms in such house that are seldom
used, yet they must be looked after
just the same in some respects, al
certain times, as the other rooms. Dust
will fly about and windows will want
washing though the rooms be used but
once month. If the housewife has a
girl to help her, or two or three, ac-
cording to the size of the house, it
makes very little difference to her how
large it may be, for the work may be
done with very little worry or hard
labor on her part. but if, on the con-
trary, she has to do all the housework
alone, she does not want large house
to worry over, and the smaller the
house, as long as it is in proportion to
her family, the better.
A house, either large or small, can
never be convenient if it has not plenty
of closet room, for the greater part of
the convenience of any house consists
in having an abundance of closets.
Closets are never in the wa, unless
they are dark ones, and the fewer of
these kinds in house the better for
the general health of the family and
the cleanliness of the house. They are
difficult places to keep sweet and
clean, for no matter how hard you may
try you can not prevent them from be-
ing musty and close. They have no
ventilation whatever but the door, and
as they are usually used for storage,
they get little air from that opening
They are always located in some out
of-the-way corner, under stairway
very often. where it is next to impossi-
BILE to get into them to give them a
thorough cleaning, and are very
tempting receptacles when per-
son is in hurry into which to
throw articles of very little use.
Old boots and shoes are fond of
resting in these places, and all women
know that there is nothing will collect
mould OF. give the place such COM
plete air of mustiness as these articles,
kept in close closet away from any
ventilation. A woman that has o
closet of this kind in her house ought
to be very particular about seeing that
it is properly and frequently cleaned
and ventilated as much and as well as
possible. She should be careful about
leaving any thing damp in such a
place. as it will be sure to mildew.
Go thes closets should be in every
chamber, good-sized china closet in
the dining-room, and in the kitchen a
large pantry with widow, if possible.
Ventilate the clothes closets, if they
have not windows, by leaving the
doors open when airing the rooms, and
there will be little danger of moths
taking up their abode in them.
In the pantry should be a
number of small closets used for
various purposes, but one should al
ways be set aside as medicine or
emergency closet. In this should be
kept all the many remedies that arc
in demand in case of accidents in the
family. Each package, box and bottle
should be marked with the proper
name of contents, and if poison
marked "poison'' in plain letters.
There should be a shelf for internal
and external remedies, on the latter
also bundle of lint, and one for
poison, which to prevent mistakes.
often occurring when person is In a
hurry, should always be at the top. If
there are children in the family q
closet such as this should never be left
unlocked, for all women know little
children are very curious to find
out how any thing tastes. and
in their ignorance are very
apt to taste the very thing
that is the most hurtful to them. A
small closet in the mothers chamber
is an excellent thing to have, where the
simpler medicines, often wanted dur
ing the night, should be kept for use,
and will save the mother great mary
steps, and frequently heavy cold.
There are great many things
needed to make a house convenient
but none are of as much Importance
as good closet room. The housewife
may get along quite well without some
of the modern conveniences, but she
can never do so without good closets.
No matter how many things may be
lacking, a house is never inconvenient
with good closet room. Boston Budget.
The lower portion of Centre Coun-